The farmers will analyse all the crops and ask one another 'why did this work so well?' 'Why did this one not work so well?' Through this process they can save the seeds which have the qualities which they most require - whether that's based on yield, drought resistance, and so on. Chester Chituwu, the Director of CELUCT

The Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Management Trust (CELUCT) have been working with communities in the mountainous Chimanimani district of Zimbabwe for almost twenty years. Part of their work with these remote rural communities has been to recover and revive their local seeds. Their Seed Saving Programme is now one of their great success stories and they regularly hold what are known as 'Field Days' - when the farmers come together to compare the size and quality of their seeds during the germination period.

Chester Chituwu, the Director of CELUCT explains: "The farmers will analyse all the crops and ask one another 'why did this work so well?' 'Why did this one not work so well?' Through this process they can save the seeds which have the qualities which they most require - whether that's based on yield, drought resistance, and so on".

Seed Fairs

The farmers then repeat this process after the harvest in what's known as a Seed Fair - a sharing space or market exchange for seeds. Farmers bring all of their best seeds to display the quality of what they have produced through their own rich knowledge of seed selection. Through this process farmers in Chimanimani are also reviving indigenous food varieties as some more unusual seeds are proving themselves to give abundant yields or be more resilient to changing climate conditions.

Food Fairs

The final stage of the process is the Food Fair, a space where farmers come to share their knowledge of the qualities and uses of not just the seed but also the wonderful variety of fruit and vegetables which come from the seed. This is a day of celebration around food, and a variety of the indigenous foods are brought to the Fair by the farmers for all can share and taste. The Fair also includes practical trainings where the older women show the younger women all the varieties which they could grow and what foods they could make from these varieties. CELUCT promote this as a great way to make the community, and visitors from beyond the community, think about diversifying the seeds they plant. This in turn not only diversifies local farms, making them more resilient to shocks such as climatic changes, it also means that the diets of the community become more varied and more nutritionally balanced.

Find out more about CELUCT by reading an interview with Director Chester Chituwu.